Fairy Tail: The Eight Pages
by Dark Dreamscape
Summary: Strange pages, weird plans, and outlandish humor. Lucy has been left in Magnolia's woods as part of a overly complex love plan. But Lucy is not alone... Someone, or something, is also there. This story will not be written in chronological order and it will be non-linear. Written by Comrade Carlin
1. Chapter 1: 3:00 AM, December 21

**Title: Fairy Tail - The Eight Pages**

**By: Comrade Carlin**

**Disclaimer: Fairy Tail is not my property; also, all fictional characters, references, and locations are not my property. I will not reveal the extent of the crossovers and references yet as to ensure no spoilers. Enjoy!**

**Author's Note: Just a brief warning, this fan-fiction will contain a few things which come from scary origins. Search them at your own peril, you have been warned. Also, this fan-fiction will be a bit non-linear in story in that I plan to Tarantino it. (For all those who do not understand the reference, I suggest that you watch Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction and/or Reservoir Dogs or indeed, anything by Quentin Tarantino in general. Be warned, these films are not for young people. Also, one of Tarantino's most infamous trademarks is non-linear storytelling. This is often coupled with interwoven stories, multiple crossovers, multiple pop culture references, and beginning stories In Medias Res, AKA "In the Middle of Things," which I am about to do. Enjoy!)**

**Chapter 1: 3:00 A.M., December 21, Location: Somewhere in the woods of Magnolia.**

Lucy Heartfilia's day, or, considering the abundant darkness, should we say, night was going rather swimmingly. Well, that is if you define "swimmingly" as "OH MY GOD I AM BEING STALKED BY SOMEONE OR SOMETHING EVEN CREEPIER THAN JUVIA IN A DARKENED FOREST WITH A RAPIDLY DIMMING FLASHLIGHT AND SIX DISTURBING NOTES OF INCREASING IMPORTANCE AND RELEVANCE!" Well, regardless, as Lucy frantically ran forward, she thought, "This situation is absolutely NOT going to get any…" Let us pause for a second as the break in Lucy's thoughts were caused by Lucy's missteps in the darkness, which in turn caused a sudden trip and tumble down a conveniently located rocky hill into the wall of an equally conveniently located stone bathroom complex, all of which momentarily stunned Lucy's thought process, and the flow of the story, and indeed Lucy herself, but that is beside the point. Ah, Lucy's seems to be back to her senses. The exposition shall continue!

"OW!" was Lucy's philosophical reply as she picked herself off of the forest floor. Suddenly, something grabbed her attention. Lucy shifted the light of her dim flashlight to the bathroom wall with which her posterior had only just recently made the acquaintance of. On that wall was a piece of paper, with which a crude yet pertinent message was written in dark black ink. "HELP ME!" the paper read. Lucy sighed to herself, help me indeed, then Lucy did a quick glance to her sides as she plucked the paper off of the wall. "Well," she muttered as she tucked the paper into her pocket, "I think I gave it the slip." Suddenly, a thunderous booming filled her eyes. Violently jerking around, Lucy waved her dim flashlight around and weekly called out, "Hello? Who's there?" Sadly, Lucy obviously failed to observe Rule Three of the "Rules on how to survive a Horror Story" from Scream Series. Said rule reads, "You may not survive the story if you say "Hello?" or "Who's there?" to any strange noises or random occurrences." Regardless, Lucy figured out just fine what happened in about 20 seconds, as her flashlight faintly illuminated what looked to be an inordinately tall and thin man. One might say this man, as it most likely is a man considering that said figure was wearing a black dress suit with a corresponding black tie, was rather… slender. Considering that the figure in question was lacking a face with the only object on its head being what resembled a blank, white, and featureless mask, we can safely assume that Lucy was face to face with…

The tape ends there. Only days later did I happen to pass by said bathroom with its security cameras. This account above was pieced together with the surviving footage. Most of said footage was inordinately filled with static and interference, mostly occurring when a tall yet obscured figure was near or at the camera. The footage the pieces together this account ends with aforementioned ending. Yet, about 20 seconds later, a high pitched scream of KYAH! Along with a scampering noise is heard. The blurred static seems to show the image of a blonde girl who rapidly runs into the bathroom complex. This is followed by an even louder KYAH! The scream is coupled with additional static, and after this, the footages stops. Additional research will be complied…


	2. Chapter 2: 3:00 PM, December 20

**By: Comrade Carlin**

**Disclaimer: All property content in here is not mine. **

**Chapter 2: 3:00 P.M., December 20, Location: Fairy Tail's Guildhall, Magnolia.**

Lucy Heartfilia's day, considering the tiring circumstances, was going rather normally. Well, that is if you define "normally" by the definition used by the majority of Fairy Tail's populace. For those unaware, the easiest explanation of Fairy Tail's definition of "normally" can be found in any prestigious and esteemed thesaurus. Why a thesaurus you ask, well, Fairy Tail's definition of "normally" is in fact the antonym, also known as EXACT OPPOSITE, or the mainstream version of "normally." And as of right now, the guild was living up to this version of the word.

As Lucy tiredly glanced about the guild, she noticed that Elfman was actually actively writing something. Occasionally, Elfman paused his writing, concentrated hard, eerily resembled "The Thinker," and then, with an expression that simply screamed "Eureka," or perhaps, more accurately, "MAN!" hurriedly scribbled down something with gusto. Lucy noted to herself with curiosity as to what Elfman was writing, after all, Elfman doing ANYTHING besides yelling "MAN," getting in fights, and/or giving speeches on what "Real MEN" do was certainly interesting. Before Lucy could think to herself anymore, Elfman jumped to his feet and ran out of the guild.

Just at that exact moment, Juvia happened to plop down at the table occupied by Lucy. "Hello my despised love-rival… uh… Juvia means, good… acquaintance." Juvia forced out, "And how might you be today?"

Lucy, rolling her eyes inwardly at Juvia's continual misunderstandings, responded indifferently that all was well.

"Well that is too bad. Err, Juvia means, fan-tas-tic love-rivaaa… Lucy." Juvia stammered. "Maybe you'd like to join Juvia, Jellal, and Levy?"

Lucy glanced at Juvia, before asking what Juvia and Levy had in mind.

"Well," Juvia stated, "Gajeel called Natsu a stupid, ugly, crazy weakling and Natsu took offence to being called a weakling."

Lucy rolled her eyes yet again at the limited thought process of Natsu.

"Then the fireball Natsu was aiming for Gajeel roasted Erza's strawberry cake." Juvia continued.

Lucy shuddered.

"Then the 13 assassin-like swords Erza threw at Natsu somehow all hit Gray-Sama, in his groin region, when his pants were off, and where Juvia's eyes were totally absolutely NOT ogling every last gorgeous inch of flesh and muscle structure." Juvia quickly affirmed.

Riiiiiight Lucy inwardly thought, and if that statement is true then The Hunger Games series is a timeless classic.

"Anyway," Juvia continued, "Since Juvia is cheering for Gray, Levy is cheering for Gajeel, Jellal is dodging Erza's swords, whilst simultaneously cheering her on whilst also attempting to obtain more strawberry cake, you should come along and cheer on Natsu!"

Lucy glanced at Juvia, and then burst out laughing.

"What is this," Juvia thought, "this was NOT part of the plan. Juvia's Love-Rival… err, Juvia's Colleague Lucy was supposed to smile and declare her love for Natsu whilst going to cheer on Natsu in the fight, thus finally ridding Juvia of one of the most persistent Love-Rivals so that Juvia can finally claim Gray-Sama and his everlasting love!" Yes Constant Reader, Juvia's rambling sound just as insane in thoughts as in actions, but moving back to the action…

"Juvia, I do not know what you are suggesting, but I do not want to cheer on Natsu while dodging flying pieces of furniture, swords, ice shards, and fireballs, good day." At this statement, Lucy departed for home.

"Eep," Juvia thought, this is NOT good for the plan; it's time to move to our back-up plan. Juvia quickly ran to the group of fighters and told them what Lucy's reactions were.

The responses to Lucy's reactions were decidedly not positive. "WHAT!" yelled Gray as he glared at Erza, "so I got 13 swords, SHARP MIGHT I ADD, thrown at my manhood for NOTHING!"

Erza screamed, "AND MY PERFECTLY INNOCENT AND TASTY STRAWBERRY CAKE GOT ROASTED FOR NOTHING AS WELL!" Erza's death glare at Natsu was replied by a timid suggestion from Levy. "Uh, why don't we just move to a back-up plan?"

"That would be perfect," Mira sang out, "And I have just the one." As the group huddled around the bar, Mira brought out an elaborate design. "I call it Operation Blind Logic." Mira proclaimed.

"Juvia is confused," Juvia said, "Why is it called 'Blind Logic?'"

"Because," Mira responded, "We will track down Lucy, knock her out, blind fold her, and ask her who she likes. We will then give her a logical reason to do so."

"As in?" Erza questioned. Mira, grinning evilly said, "We will tell Lucy that there are two crazed pyromaniac of unknown gender and origin behind her, and we will tell Lucy that is she doesn't tell us who she loves, we will set the pyromaniacs loose on her."

Juvia, somewhat shockingly, piped up, "Isn't that overly cruel and painful… even for my detested Love-Rival?"

"Nonsense," Mira laughed, "We will not actually set Lucy on fire, because here is the funny part. Since Lucy is blindfolded, she will not know if she is set on fire or not, so we can say that she is, without actually setting her on fire, and she will believe it!"

"Question," Gajeel retorted, "how in the hell will Lucy think she is on fire when she isn't, I mean you'd have to be dumber than Salamander here to actually believe that."

"That is right," Natsu responded happily, until Natsu actually thought about that statement for a second, "Hey… WAIT JUST A DAMN MINUTE GAJEEL, I would certainly know if I was on fire, I can control fire!" A collective face palm was felt through all of the members at the bar.

Mira broke the silence by saying, "Well, when Lucy is tied up, we will tell her that we will use flamethrowers that are so hot and scalding that instead of pain, all she will feel is an ice cold sensation. This is because all of her nerves have simultaneously been destroyed and cut off due to the heat's intensity. Thus, when we stick chunks of ice in the guise of flamethrowers to Lucy's skin… she will actually think that her skin was torched! Isn't this funny?"

All those present at the bar were silent, until Erza stated, "How, demonic, fitting I suppose, but what about the smell, sure the feeling part will work, but what of smell. Even if her nerves were cut off, flesh still burns, and smells burnt."

"AH HAH, glad you asked," Mira replied with a devilish grin, "HEY BLU AND RED PYROS, GET OUT HERE AND BRING THE EQUIPMENT!" At Mira's cry two figures carrying large flamethrowers walked over to the bar. These two figures were clad in identical fireproof suits, with the only difference being that one was red and the other blue. They both had flame emblems stitched to their shoulders, and their faces were completely covered by dark black British Mark V Gas Masks. Large oxygen tanks with connective tubing were individually strapped to both of their backs, and they both also had rather sharp-looking axes fastened to their sides. Three incendiary grenades were clamped to a bandolier wrapped around their waists, with bright red flare pistols fastened nearby for good measure. Also, they both wore shiny dark gloves and boots. On the breastplate of one read "Pyrotechnics Expert of The Mercenary Team for Reliable Excavation & Demolition." The other had the words "Pyrotechnics Expert of The Mercenary Team for Builders League United," on the corresponding breastplate. Both figures cheerfully waved and muttered what sounded like, "Hello," although it was hard to tell what exactly the muffled sounds coming out of the gas masks were really saying. The group couldn't even tell the gender of the two strange figures, which, they supposed, fit into Mira's plan just fine. It was then that the group noticed that both Pyros were grasping large slabs of beef in their other hand. "Wait," Levy stated, "are those two going to set those slabs of beef on fire while they are supposedly setting Lucy on fire?"

"Yes," Mira smiled, "And then I will press ice to Lucy's back. She will be so scared and shocked that she will blurt out the person she loves."

"That plan is so stupid that it might actually, completely BACK FIRE AT US!" Levy yelled, "No pun intended."

"And why would you say that?" Mira indignantly gasped, these two professionals are perfectly competent and diligent!"

Ironically, at this moment, the two Pyros saw not a twisted confession love plan, but a field of pixies and cherubs flying and skipping about in a field of lollipops and candy… with a waterfall of chocolate and tea flowing in the background. In both of their arms in this twisted reality were gigantic golden trumpets which, at the pull of the trigger, would release joyous waves of rainbows, paint, and sparkles. These waves would cause the object they hit to dance with joy and gleefully sing out lovely songs. Also, the oxygen packs attached to each of the Pyros' were not such things in this world, for these packs were now a one man band of a music player. The Red Pyro had a music pack which blared out "Do You Believe in Magic" and The Blue Pyro had a music pack which blared out "The Candy Man." Yes Constant Reader, these two… things, for lack of a better word, are completely insane. It didn't help Mira's case that both of these Pyros were glancing off into the distance, with their heads cocked in a 45 degree angle, while they were both humming to the tune of Metallica's Fuel.

"Hey, how about this," Gajeel suggested, "How about we just scare Lucy to a confession in a more psychological way."

"I can't see how pretending to light someone on fire is not psychological." Levy muttered.

Gajeel, ignoring this, said, "How about we just catch Lucy, throw her in the dark woods near Magnolia, and leave a piece of paper on the large boulder in those woods."

Mira, grinning, said, "Wow, I am impressed Gajeel, that plan definitely might work, all we need to do is figure out what to write on the note, and then, catch Lucy and make her find the note, besides, it sounds a hell of a lot cheaper than my plan."

"Cheaper?" Levy inquired.

"Yes," Mira replied, "To get these two Pyromaniacs, I had to pull a LOT of strings. First I had to give sandwiches to two burly Russians men who did not want to part with their teammates that were, quote, 'CREDIT TO TEAM!'"

"Why sandwiches?" Natsu asked.

"Because sandwiches were the only thing that stopped the Russians' girlfriends for attacking me." Mira responded.

"So what, did the Russians' girlfriends threaten to slap you or something?" Natsu snickered.

"No, the "girlfriends" were fully loaded customized mini-guns named "Sasha" and "Natasha," and both of them were about to shoot TONS of bullets my way." Natsu just shuddered.

"Anyways," Mira continued, "Then I had to bribe the Pyros' team medics and doctors in order to release these two pyromaniacs as "unfit for duty," and those medics would not accept jewels. However, they DID take to these weird green pieces of paper that they excitedly called 'MONEY!' But that was not the half of it. Before I could leave, four weird British gentlemen in army and police uniforms accosted me and demanded something along the lines of 'What are you bloody doing with our Firebugs!? We need them to fight the Zeds, specimens, and The Patriarch,' or something like that, it was hard to understand the terms they were using... and their accents. Anyhow, they refused the money, but they had a strong like of these white pieces of paper that they called either 'DOSH!' 'LOADS OF MONEY!' or 'CASH!' AND EVEN THAT IS NOT THE END! These two Pyromaniacs demanded to be paid… in hats, so frankly, Gajeel's plan definitely won't break the bank so I wouldn't mind shelving my plan."

"Hey," Gajeel said, "Can we give MY plan a cool codename too?"

"And why does your plan need a codename Gajeel?" Levy inquired.

"Because I read it in a book," Gajeel proudly boasted, holding up a copy of Sun Tzu's The Art of War, "And I must say Shorty, this book malarkey of yours isn't turning out to be so bad after all. Anyways, it says in this book that you must give all plans cool codenames, so I want to call my plan Operation Nimrod Dancer."

Levy politely asked, "Gajeel, it's good that you've taken my advice of reading and all, but are you SURE that is what that book said."

"POSITIVE," Gajeel roared, "And I got this book from a good friend to, he also had a copy of this weird book called the Necrenomica-something-or-another, and plus, he had a chainsaw for an arm, just like me, so I am SURE that his book is both factual and accurate."

That is wrong on SO many levels, Levy thought to herself.

"Well, it is settled then," Mira responded happily, we will use Gajeel's plan, now, we must start planning…"

The intelligible responses that (Information redacted) end there. My sources were unable to glean more information than this; however, (Information Redacted) will come soon. (Information Redacted). More accounts will be complied for this. Farewell, until next time.


	3. Chapter 3: 1:00 AM, December 21

**Author's note: From here on out... This is going to be written by CC, so... Later~! (-Jydaria)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any copyrighted property that is not rightfully mine. **

**Chapter 3: 1:00 A.M., December 21, Location: Somewhere in the woods of Magnolia.**

The first thing Lucy saw when she regained consciousness was the glow of the moon in the darkness, that and the fact that she was somewhere in the darkened woods. The next thing she saw was a flashlight lying on the ground. The flashlight was flickering slightly, and it was illuminating a message crudely written in the dirt. The message was somewhat unclear, but it seemed to say, 'Find the…illegible… page,' or was it pages? Lucy couldn't really tell, the handwriting was simply awful, that and the splitting headache she had did not assist in making the message any easier to understand. Lucy was pondering what exactly caused her to end up in this situation when she decided that the best thing to do was find this page, or pages, and get out of the forest. So, waving the flashlight around cautiously, Lucy started to walk forward, disregarding the random objects that also happened to be around the area she woke up in.

After five minutes of random wandering, a tall stone silo-like structure caught Lucy's attention. Walking slowly towards it, Lucy noticed that a slip of paper was fastened to the silo. Moving closer, she saw that the slip of paper read, "DON'T LOOK… OR IT TAKES YOU," with random scribbles and a tall stick figure scratched on in black ink. "Don't look, at what?" Lucy wondered aloud as she grabbed the paper. "And what exactly is "it?" supposed to be?"

The answer to Lucy's question came rather quickly, for suddenly, Lucy heard a booming thud in the distance. The echoing of the thud seemed to indicate that whatever made the sound was far away, but Lucy still jumped a little in shock. Seconds later, the noise appeared again, and again, and again. Lucy was trembling a little at this, but she held the flashlight relatively still as she quickly scanned the horizon line for anything out of the ordinary. The thuds continued; almost sounding like a heartbeat, but they did one thing as time went on, they got louder, and deeper. Whatever was making these thuds was either getting closer or increasing in size, or maybe even both. Somehow, Lucy almost thought that she heard a deep voice laugh, and then say, Page 1 out of 8, but she quickly dismissed that thought. Walking forward, Lucy noticed a fork in the road, looking down them quickly, the path on the left led in the direction of a bridge, and the other led right into a tall terrifying-looking figure in a suit. Wait WHAT!? Lucy thought, as she quickly glanced to her right again, with more caution and care this time. However, this time, she saw nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, all she saw was an abandoned chariot in that road.

It must have been my imagination, Lucy thought, as she stepped across the bridge. After crossing the bridge, Lucy noticed a weird stone wall nearby. The wall had another piece of paper taped to it. Running up to it, Lucy noticed that the paper showed a tall tree, and an equally tall and skinny stick figure next to the tree. The word, "FOLLOWS" was crudely scrawled vertically across the paper. "'Follows' indeed," Lucy murmured, "This is my second one, but it would be really helpful if these notes were more specific."

There is an old adage where I come from, that adage is "Be careful what you wish for, because you might soon get it." Obviously Lucy failed to listen to this one, for as Lucy turned to go back across the bridge, she noticed something blocking her way. Something tall, taller than Elfman even, in fact, Lucy hazarded a guess that the figure in question was at least eight feet tall, if not taller. The figure was dressed in a dark black suit with a matching black tie; at least that was all Lucy could see before she decided to run in ANY direction where the tall figure was not.

After running for about a minute, Lucy glanced around her. Nothing except for trees was in sight, all in all, nothing strange. As Lucy paused to catch her breath, she noticed that there was this odd marble tunnel to her left. As she took a look, she noticed that is was a long and seemed to lead to a way out of the woods. Lucy walked inside a little, taking a quick glance around her to be sure that nothing was following her. The ground of the tunnel was concrete, with this weird symbol etched into all of the blocks. The symbol looked like a circle, with a large X in the center of the circle. Even stranger was the fact that ever single block had this symbol etched into it, and by the crude work, the symbol must have been etched in by hand. Suddenly, a rustling sound was heard behind her, and Lucy darted her eyes towards the sound. Emptiness stared back at Lucy. As she turned to continue her passage along the tunnel, a piece of paper was lying conspicuously on the floor. As Lucy bent down to read it, she noticed that it too had symbols like those on the ground. The paper had a message as well, which read, "ALWAYS WATCHES, NO EYES." The paper also had what looked like a face, except with two X's in place of it eyes. Lucy picked up the piece of paper, and thought to herself that she now had three pieces of paper. Suddenly, at this moment, this wind kicked up, and the thudding sound got louder. In response to this, Lucy quickly ran to the end of the tunnel… and came face to face with a tall dark figure. Lucy took a good look at it now, and saw that the figure's face was blank, expressionless, white, and devoid of any organs, almost as if it were a blank white mask. As Lucy gazed at its face, perplexed in horror, as the figure seemed to glow in the flashlight's dimming beam. Slowly, Lucy felt tired and drowsy; in fact, she started to feel a little lightheaded. As Lucy's eyesight started to blur she remembered the words of the first page she found, "DON'T LOOK… OR IT TAKES YOU." The page must mean that prolonged visual exposure to this creature must cause fear, paranoia, shock, hypnosis, and hallucinations, in fact, this thing will probably kill me unless I run away. So that is what Lucy did, she forced her eyes off of the strange figure as she ran back to the opening of the tunnel's opening. As Lucy reached the opening, her head stopped spinning and her vision cleared up again.

It was then that Lucy noticed that her nose was bleeding and that she was completely out of breath. "Okay. I'm fine. I'll be alright; I just should not look at it." Lucy panted as she continued walking in the opposite direction of the funnel. As she walked along, Lucy's flashlight abruptly went out. What the hell, Lucy inwardly cursed, why now? As she slammed the flashlight against her hands, the bulb dimly lit up the area… and the tall figure standing in front of her. Lucy was far too shocked to scream, this time, she just ran away, this time in the direction of the chariot that she noticed earlier. As she ran, she muttered, "How could that thing catch up to me that fast, it was behind me in the tunnel just five minutes ago." Had Lucy paused to glance at this figure, she might have noticed some slight differences, but that was immaterial now. All that mattered at this moment was legging it to the chariot. It is worth noting at this moment that Lucy's increasingly erratic running dislodged the heretofore unmentioned video camera attached to her hair ribbon. The camera fell to the grass, where it continued to record Lucy's rapidly diminishing figure as she ran out of the camera's range.

About ten minute later, a strange tall figure picked up the camera. The picture was distorted and full of static and clipping before the camera finally shut down.

The data recorded stopped there. The account above was pieced together from the coherent recordings present in the camera's data. All throughout the account stated above, the picture frequently distorted, filled with inaudible static, and or cut off. Most of the film had heavy clipping, but the important information was salvageable. The camera itself was found later on in the woods. More figures will be complied.


	4. Chapter 4: 4:00 PM, December 20

**Author's note: Just a random comment passing through... But that doesn't mean this is written by me. I'll let CC take over now~ (-Jydaria)  
I hope you enjoy, regardless. **

**Disclaimer: I own no property below that is not rightfully mine. **

**Chapter 4: 4:00 P.M., December 20, Location: Magnolia.**

Juvia's stalking, uh, sneaking skills were incredibly well-practiced, err… fine-tuned from previous experience stalking Gray-Sama… eh, previous experience playing Metal Gear Solid, which made Juvia the ideal candidate to shadow Lucy for Gajeel's plan. Juvia was to shadow Lucy in order to ensure that Lucy did not return to her apartment, and considering the proximity of Lucy to her apartment, it was probably time to radio Gajeel on the plan's progress. "Raining Blood to Iron Man, repeat, Raining Blood to Iron Man, do you copy?" Juvia spoke into her walkie-talkie. "Oh; and Gajeel, why is Juvia's code name 'Raining Blood' anyway?" "Well, I couldn't find any cool sounding song names with 'Crazy' 'Stalker' and 'Blue' in its title, so deal with it, oh AND STICK TO THE PLAN! Remember, don't use our real names." Gajeel growled, after he finished his transmission, Gajeel reached for a smoke signal, and as Gajeel activated his smoke signal, he decided to test his team mates' progress on Operation Nimrod Dancer. "Iron Man to Thumbelina, Iron Man to Thumbelina, do you copy?" "I DEMAND TO KNOW WHY MY CODE NAME IS THUMBELINA!" Levy roared into her walkie-talke. "Well, you like books and all Shorty, and you are small, so Thumbelina is a perfect fit for you." Gajeel chortled. Levy was less than amused at this reply.

"This is The God of Hellfire responding to your smoke signal Iron Man," Natsu radioed in for Gajeel, "Me and Stone Cold Crazy here," as Natsu nudged Gray, "are ready." "Did you two get the headband camera?" Gajeel responded. "Yeah, and we are ready to move in and attach it to Lucy." Gray stated, then after pausing for a moment of thought, Gray asked, "But how exactly is Lucy supposed to get into the woods?" "That's easy," Gajeel replied, "Holy Diver will charge in and knock Lucy out." "Ready to charge in." Erza responded. "Then Aces High will airlift Lucy to the location, whilst Fish Heads attaches the camera to Lucy's headband. Are you two ready?" Gajeel queried to the two. "Ready to roll," Pantherlily responded, "Aye Sir," Happy added.

As Gajeel checked over the outline of the plan, he suddenly remembered something, he hadn't checked Levy's role in the plan. After all, all the other roles where right on progress, Natsu and Gray got the equipment, Erza was ready to charge Lucy, Juvia had shadowed Lucy, and Pantherlily and Happy were ready to transport Lucy to the location and set up the final stages of the plan. But Gajeel hadn't checked Levy's important role of marking out the note's location, which had to be next to the drop zone for convenience and rapid response. Well, no time like the present. "Alright, Thumbelina, did you mark out the drop zone?" Gajeel inquired. "Yeah, I set it out, the drop zone is a large + sign, Panther…" "AHEM!" Gajeel interrupted. "SORRY, Aces High and Fish Heads can't miss it, and by the way Iron Man, AREN'T OUR CODENAMES A LITTLE TOO SELF-EXPLANATORY FOR ALL THIS SECRECY NONSENSE?!" Levy yelled. "Details details," Gajeel grumbled, "All is going according to plan, and if luck has it, Bunny Girl will wake up in the woods, find the note, read what it says, and confess that she likes insert Bunny Girl's confession here." "Raining Blood to Iron Man, Lucy is about to enter her apartment, we must start the plan." Juvia reported. Gajeel, grinning, opened all the frequencies and channels on his walkie-talkie "Roger that, Holy Diver, you know what to do, Aces High, Fish Heads, get ready for the drop, rendezvous with The God of Hellfire and Stone Cold Crazy, Thumbelina, direct them to the drop zone, I do NOT want this plan to fail now, AM I CLEAR!" A lackluster chorus of affirmatives and one aye filled Gajeel's ears.

To call Gajeel's plan a success would be analogous to calling the Star Wars Prequels amazing movies. To follow Murphy's Law, everything that could go wrong did go wrong. First off, Erza's mad charge at Lucy to stealthily knock Lucy out only succeeded in tearing up Magnolia's streets, causing five heart attacks, alerting Lucy of Erza's presence, and shattering the fourth wall, which put I, the author at considerable peril. In fact, I am still marveling at the fact that Erza's sword blade just barely missed my face. But you know what they say; they just haven't built "strong effective walls" "successfully" since Berlin, Helm's Deep, or perhaps Korea and/or Asia, and even then the labels of "strong effective walls" and "successfully" are debatable at best. That and the fact that computer screens are remarkable fragile, but that is beside the point. After Lucy was alerted to Erza's presence, Lucy did the sensible thing, which was screaming, pissing your pants, and running in any direction where Erza wasn't. Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, Juvia just happened to have a crowbar, and said crowbar was labeled for usage against head crabs, zombies, and, strangely enough… love rivals. Somehow, somewhere, in the imaginary limbo that is Half-Life 3, a certain Dr. Gordon Freeman is searching desperately in every single lost and found, and this Dr. Freeman just might be "assisted" by a snarky, malevolent, and iconic female computer program created by a certain company named Aperture. After catching up with Lucy and using the crowbar to bonk Lucy on the head with slightly excessive brute force, Juvia paged Happy and Pantherlily to set up the camera in Lucy's headband and transport Lucy to the drop zone. However, en route to the drop zone, Levy's directions to Happy and Pantherlily were confounded by interference and static, and to make matters worse, Levy's communicator ran out of batteries. The following is the exchange that I happened to pick up through a patched through link up with the signal. "Remember, Static, drop Lucy off at the Static Symbol, Repeat, drop her off at the Static Symbol, it looks like a Static in a Static Sign." Levy managed to transmit. "Uh, so is the drop zone this weird circle with an X symbol inside it in the middle of the woods?" Happy enquired as he glanced around the forest floor. Dead silence was the only response. Happy and Pantherlily, upon receiving no further information, decided to just go with the symbol that Happy spotted. As the two exceeds dropped off Lucy, they noticed that an abandoned flashlight was in the area, along with a broken video camera, a twenty dollar bill, a glow stick, and a burnt out lantern. "Ah well, probably nothing." Pantherlily muttered as he and Happy flew back to Gajeel.

Yes Constant Reader, this plan was doomed from the start, but the matter of a headband camera was certainly interesting, luckily Gajeel revealed the reason for the camera in the following exchange. "Thumbelina, I told you, the camera is so we know that Bunny Girl found the note and safely found her way out of the woods." "And how will we access the camera's data?" Levy retorted. "Well obviously, when Bunny Girl finds the note and gets out of the woods, we take the camera from her headband and access its film, and then we know if she found the note and safely got out of the woods." "Isn't there a logical flaw in that plan Iron Man?" Levy sarcastically replied. "Uh, well, now that you mention it…" Gajeel stammered, "Maybe we should have created a link up with the camera before we attached it to her headband, so that we could access the camera's data without actually having the camera… well I am sure it will be alright, after all, Bunny Girl should wake up any second now, find the note, and be home shortly." Little did Gajeel know, Lucy took a rather powerful blow to the head, in fact, Lucy would not wake until around 1:00 A.M., December 21, according to the camera's data. So, as the day drug on, Lucy lay unconscious in the middle of Magnolia's woods, not to awaken until much later.

The Radio exchange ends there, I was able to patch myself into the Gajeel's "Secret" radio transmissions and piece together this turn of events, not without the aforementioned risk and dangers. Further information is needed and will be analyzed.

**I hope you enjoyed. **

**-Comrade Carlin**


	5. Chapter 5: 1:00 PM, December 20

**Author's note: This is still written by Comrade Carlin... Though I hope you enjoy it, nevertheless! (-Jydaria) **

**Disclaimer: I own no copyrighted material that is written in the following. **

**Chapter 5: 1:00 P.M., December 20, Location: Fairy Tail's Guildhall, Magnolia.**

Mirajane Strauss was proud of her positions as Fairy Tail's Top Cover Girl, Bar Maid, and Completely-Unnecessary-Totally-Unwanted-Overly-Involved-Slightly-Annoying-and-Mildly-Innefficient-and-Incompetant-Match-Maker-with-an-Overly-Complex-Extremely-Detailed-and-Excessively-Long-and-Superlatively-Exaggeratedly-Descriptive-Adjective-Filled-Job-Title. There would be an abbreviation for such a thing, but figuring that out would be almost as tedious and complicated as writing out the actual title seen above, but the author digresses. Anyways, Mira was proud of her aforementioned positions, but she did have a few cases that she wished to resolve. First and foremost was in locating her lost Match Making book… and also pairing up Lucy and Natsu, or at the very least, pairing up Lucy. Her earlier attempt this morning was to strike up a conversation with Lucy and lure her in. Lucy had, sadly, not taken the bait. So then Mira enlisted the help of Levy, but sadly, in the business of love affairs, Levy was as subtle as a Dan Brown novel, and infinitely more clichéd in Mira's humble opinion. Failing with this approach, Mira tried to convince Cana to assist, but Cana was a little too absorbed in her latest drinking contest, this time with a stranger to the guild, some weird visitor. The visitor in question was blood-covered Russian soldier who claimed to be a zombie hunter, well, either that or a carpenter, or a cosmonaut, or something along those lines, Mira couldn't really discern what the man was saying when he wasn't screaming about more Vodka, a 'Pack-a-Punch Machine,' a 'Mystery Box,' teddy bears, and…Soviet Monkey Test Pilot Zombies that came from Space.

Well, none of this really matters, thought Mira, I have a grand plan that will work. Over the course of the next hour or so, Mira managed, without much effort, to convince Gajeel to provoke Natsu into a fight. Mira then "convinced" Natsu to fry Erza's cake during the fight, but then again, Mira's method of "convincing" involved making your life a living hell as a penalty of failure. Having achieved this, Mira decided to spread a little "gossip," telling Erza that Gray had sworn to "make his feeling known" to Juvia if someone was to throw multiple swords at his… manhood during the next fight in the guild, for some strange reason, perhaps it was the "bribe" of additional strawberry cake, Erza agreed. Then Mira decided to let Gray in on a "little secret," Mira ended up telling Gray that if a fight started, Erza would be throwing swords at the biggest coward in the guild, and the only way to disprove such a feat was to jump in on the fight and crack some skulls, which Gray was more than happy to oblige. Finally, Mira went to Juvia and promised to give Juvia all of Mira's "Secret Pictures of Gray which even the most diehard of water-based stalkers couldn't obtain" paired up with a pair of Gray's boxers, along with Gray's hair attached to a Mr. Cursey Doll, all in exchange for asking Lucy to take a look at any random fights in the guild that might happen to occur that day. Mira never heard an affirmation of consent from Juvia, but the drooling, insane mutterings of "Juvia's Beloved Gray-Sama," "Gray-Sama will be all mine," and the melting of Juvia's body into a bubbly puddle was probably a good sign. Somehow, in all of these separate encounters, Mira had mentioned that this would help Mira's vaguely defined plan, which somehow concerned love and Lucy. All of the participants somehow took all this in without paying it much heed.

This plan is guaranteed to work, Mira thought to herself, and it was then that Mira happened to notice her brother, Elfman, deeply absorbed with reading something. This was certainly odd, as the reading material in question was most certainly NOT a book on manliness, but a letter. What's more, Elfman was extremely focused on reading this letter. Once or twice Elfman let out a soft chuckle, followed by an inside-voice rendition of his "man" shout, and right before Mira's plan was to start, Elfman further astounded Mira, as Elfman had just put the letter into his pocket whilst whipping out a pad of paper and a pen. Before Mira directed her eyes to the rapidly accelerating fight, Mira noted that Elfman seemed to be writing something down on the paper, occasionally pausing to inadvertently pose as a facsimile of "The Thinker." Then, Mira noted that Lucy also seemed to be in awe of Elfman's activity. Well, thought Mira, Juvia should shortly start approaching Lucy right now, so my plan will probably be complete before the day is out, and if for some strange reason that my plan will not work, I have an interesting, if expensive, little back up plan.

The account stops here, earlier backdrop on Mira's plans have been gleaned from a certain book I happened to locate, it apparently was a Match Making book created by Mira, and it also seemed excessively damp when I found it. The book was also in a strange pile of extremely cold clothes. Otherwise, my aforementioned and redacted sources listed above clarified the additional information. Additional information will be acquired, not matter how difficult.

**-Comrade Carlin**


	6. Chapter 6: 2:00 AM, December 21

**Chapter 6: 2:00 A.M., December 21, Location: Somewhere in the woods of Magnolia.**

Lucy's flashlight finally died for good by the time she reached the chariot, but luckily for Lucy, just before the light went out, Lucy saw that there was a large camcorder lying in the passenger seat of the chariot. Stumbling in the darkness, Lucy reached for the camcorder and frantically picked it up. As Lucy picked up the camcorder, she turned it on and activated its built-in night vision filming mode. Once this was done, Lucy looked into the side monitor, and found that not only could she fairly clearly now, but that was a note attached to the chariot's side. Lucy picked up the note, which read "LEAVE ME ALONE" with a tree on the page as well. Leave me alone, hell yeah I want to be left alone, Lucy thought.

Turning towards the direction of a scrabbled old scary-looking tree, a heretofore unnoticed portable radio duct taped to the camcorder's side suddenly switched itself on. To Lucy's horror, she could not turn the radio off, nor adjust its volume or channel. The radio crackled with static, as it self-tuned its dial to 108.1 FM. The radio then blared out the station's broadcast, which was a deadpan monotone male voice, who intoned, "That was Slayer's "Eyes of the Insane," followed by Metallica's "All Nightmare Long," as K-Billy's Terrific Tunes of the Two-Thousands' Weekend just keeps on... truckin'."

Suddenly, as if on cue, the beating of drums, a bass solo, and an overly aggressive guitar riff suddenly flooded the surrounding trees. Lucy, quickening her pace, suddenly heard the sound of static as the male singer growled out:

"Luck. Runs. Out."

At this, Lucy turned… and saw the face of the Slenderman staring right at her… about 6 inches away from her face. Lucy's screams and frantic scampering away were interrupted and punctuated by the song blaring from the radio.

"Crawl from the wreckage one more time"

"Horrific memory twists the mind."

"Dark, bloody, cold and hard to turn."

"Path of destruction, feel it burn."

"Still life."

"Incarnation."

"Still life."

"Infamy."

"Hallucination."

"Heresy."

"Still you run, what's to come?"

"What's to be?"

"'Cause we hunt you down without mercy."

"Hunt you down all nightmare long."

"Feel us breathe upon your face."

"Feel us shift, every move we trace."

"Hunt you down without mercy."

"Hunt you down all nightmare long, yeah."

"Luck. Runs."

"I can crawl back in."

"But your luck runs out!"

How bitterly ironic, Lucy thought as she ran through the brambles and trees of the forest, next thing you know this radio will play "Stuck in the Middle with You," when a crazed sadistic maniac decides to torture someone. Suddenly, the camcorder's picture became choppy and distorted. Lucy, fearing this as a sign of the Slenderman's proximity, ran towards the rows of rusted barrels directly in front of her. Before she could climb into one and hide, Lucy looked to her back, and noticed a tall dark figure staring at her from the distance. Lucy's heart beat almost as fast as the Latin breakbeats from the song's double bass drums as she turned to run towards the woods. After reaching the ends of the rows of rusted barrels, Lucy turned… and stared into nothingness. Puzzled, Lucy quickly jerked her head and body to the direction she had been running from. Again, nothing was there. As Lucy turned an about face, she noticed a tall figure bending down and tilting its head, as if to get a better look at Lucy's trembling figure. The figure suddenly straightened its back, adjusted its tie and suit, and then slowly took tired and weary steps towards Lucy. Before Lucy could react, the radio blared out:

"Luck. Runs. Out."

Fitting, Lucy thought, as she slowly backed up from the creature walking towards her. I am going to die in these godforsaken woods with a song about nightmares. As she thought this, Lucy backed up into one of the rusted barrels, and her hands felt a piece of paper and a rock. Quickly grabbing both, Lucy swung her arm and threw the rock at the tall creature, turning and running as she did so. While she did not glance back, the sharp cry of pain and annoyance confirmed that she had hit her target. Lucy then quickly scanned the horizon for a place to hide, and the weird brick building ahead seemed to be as good as place as ever for her. Darting into the building, Lucy quickly slammed and locked the door, barricading it with a nearby wooden chair for good measure. Lucy tiredly slid down the wall to a sitting position as the sounds of the doorknob being twisted filled Lucy's ears. The rattles of the attempts to open the door became more violent, and suddenly the door shook with knock as the fist of the creature struck the door again and again. Yet despite this, the door held firm, and eventually, the knocks ceased. Lucy breathed a sigh of relief, and decided to read what the note she had just picked up said. To her surprise, this note was simply a picture, a rather crude picture of a bunch of trees and the tall creature chasing after her. Suddenly, the radio attached to her camcorder rapidly increased its volume.

"The light that is not light is here."

"To push you out with your own fear."

"You hide, you hide, you will be found."

"Release your grip without a sound."

"Still life."

"Immolation."

"Still life."

"Infamy."

"Hallucination."

"Heresy."

"Still you run, what's to come?"

"What's to be?"

"'Cause we hunt you down without mercy."

"Hunt you down all nightmare long."

"Feel us breathe upon your face."

"Feel us shift, every move we trace."

"Hunt you down without mercy."

"Hunt you down all nightmare long, yeah."

"Luck. Runs."

"I can crawl back in."

"But your luck runs out."

At this, the radio started blaring out the song's intricate bass and guitar solos, and Lucy decided to further explore the bathroom complex. The building seemed to be only filled with bathrooms, with the objects being chairs, tiles, sinks, and weird tall people standing in the halls… Lucy stood bolt erect as a tall figure in a suit stared right back at her. Petrified, Lucy heard the radio blaring, almost as a sarcastic counterpoint to her predicament.

"Then you crawl back in."

"Into your obsession."

"Never to return."

"This is your confession."

"Hunt you down without mercy."

"Hunt you down all nightmare long."

"Feel us breathe upon your face."

"Feel us shift, every move we trace."

"Hunt you down without mercy."

"Hunt you down all nightmare long, yeah."

"Luck. Runs."

"You can crawl back in."

"But your luck runs out."

At this, Lucy decided that this radio's annoying irony and seeming self-awareness was just too much for her. Evidently, the tall figure in a suit thought so as well, as it started walking towards her, almost in an expectant and relieved way. Seeing as she might be dying soon anyways, Lucy drew back her arm and hurled the camcorder and radio at the figure with all her strength. At this, the figure paused and seemed slightly scared. It rose its arms up in either an attempt to cushion the blow or an attempt to stop Lucy from throwing the camcorder. As the camcorder tumbled through the air, the radio decided to finish off the action with the song's end scream.

"YOUR LUCK RUNS OOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUTTTTTTTT TTTTTT!" blared forth just as the camcorder and radio collided with the figure's head. The figure gave a sharp cry of pain as it crumpled to the floor. Lucy, upon seeing this, quickly jumped over the fallen figure and darted towards the unknown door that the figure had undoubtedly came in from. As she walked further into the bathroom complex, she reached a fork, and noticed two different exits. Near one of the exits, Lucy noticed a wooden stool with a note attached to its seat and a flashlight right next to it. Picking up and activating the flashlight, Lucy turned to read the note. The note read "CAN'T RUN," and was written in frantic scrawls, which ironically, Lucy muttered to herself as she picked up the note, described her inwards thoughts perfectly…. Well, right up until she looked up that is… and noticed a tall slender creature staring right back at her from nearby one of the exits of the bathroom complex. Lucy then turned and tiredly sprinted towards the other exit and decided that her last hope was to attempt to find her way out of the woods and back to Magnolia before either the creature caught up with her or she finally passed out from exhaustion. Everything is going perfectly fine; Lucy thought to herself sarcastically, in fact, one can even say that my day, or, considering the abundant darkness, should I say, night is going rather "swimmingly."

The footage stops there. The camcorder that Lucy threw was only able to pick up this footage before Lucy moved out of the camcorder's range. By my best estimates, the account from Chapter 1 takes place shortly after the end footage from this chapter, give or take a few minutes and some running in the woods. Sorry for the delay in updates, but the last month has been rather hectic for. In fact, besides that, I also get the feeling that things are amiss. It's probably something to do with the weird noises coming from the nearby woods. Either way, the rest of the account will be up as soon as I can acquire more information. Also, a hearty and grateful thank you for all the fine readers who have perused this account. **Shout-Outs and personal thanks to SymmetricalGirl8DeathTheKid, Azuky The Knight, SasusakuIslovelyy, luvelguk, and ThEAnOnYmOuScOlLeCtIvE. Your continued support, reviews, and readership are highly appreciated.**

Hopefully the wait from this update to the next will not be too long, but I will... wait, what is that noise. Pardon, I will be right back, just got to check what's going on outside. The weird noises from the nearby woods have been getting louder. **Until next time, from Comrade Carlin.**


	7. Chapter 7: 3:10 AM, December 21

**Before the chapter begins, I'd like to make some personal shout-outs and responses to some reviewers. But first off, thank you for all who have read and/or reviewed this work. I am grateful for the interest. First off, SasusakuIslovelyyhave, yes, I have played the Slender Man game, both of them in fact, and I am glad that you picked up upon this. Also, personal note, the route described in this story is somewhat based on a route possible in the game, slight liberties were taken though, and I personally have a different strategy for success in the game. Thanks for the reviews and support.**

**Now, for the other personal shout-out and response, SymmetricalGirl8DeathTheKid, thank you for your kind words regarding my update, and I hope that this chapter answered your questions. I do hope that you will enjoy the further chapters and any future installments, and also, thanks for the reviews and support.**

**ThEAnOnYmOuScOlLeCtIvE, thanks for the interest in the work and the encouragement.**

**Once again, thanks again for all the readers of this work, enjoy.**

**Chapter 7: 3:10 A.M., December 21, Location: Somewhere in the woods of Magnolia.**

Lucy mind was in an absolute frenzy. Just minutes ago, she had picked up the seventh note and came face to face with an inordinately tall and thin man wearing a black dress suit with a corresponding black tie. Also, when she attempted to run back into the bathroom complex and bar the other two doors, she saw that the creature had somehow made it into the bathroom interior before her. At this, Lucy's already shaken senses just about snapped, and the direction of Lucy's frenzied charge was, at best, nonsensical, and at worse, haphazard. Yet after about 2 minutes of frantic flight away from the bathroom complex, Lucy found herself in a strange location, with said location being two rows of partially cut down of trees. The top of the trees were bare, and the branches of these trees were lopped off as well. The trunks of the trees were the only sections of these trees that were still upright, in the ground, and relatively untouched. Strangely, Lucy noticed that each of the tree trunks had a large letter engraved into them, and, if one looked correctly, looking at the rows at just the right angle and spacing, the letters formed the following: T. "SCP-173 is next?" Lucy wondered aloud, what on earth could that be? It was then that Lucy noticed a gray and blue Easter egg lying in the center of the rows of trees. Picking up the Easter egg, Lucy noticed the letters: FT CPFC II TBA & FT QT AUFC TBA, painted on the egg. Before Lucy could ascertain what this meant, the booming sounds that she had been hearing throughout her ordeal became louder and more rapid until… they suddenly ceased. Terrified, Lucy swung her flashlight around…

and saw a tall skinny figure wearing a black suit and tie… and a VERY large red bump on its pale white head standing nearby the trees. Lucy was almost too terrified and too exhausted to run at this, and as the figure slowly and laboriously walked towards Lucy, all that Lucy could do was quake and shiver with fear. Once the figure reached Lucy, it tilted its head, as if to get a better look at Lucy, and then straightened up again. The figure then adjusted its tie and smoothed out its suit. "Pardon me," the figure intoned, "but you are Miss Lucy Heartfilia of the Magnolia Guild Fairy Tail right?"

"What?" was Lucy's startled response.

"You can understand me right?" the tall figure intoned.

"What?" Lucy stammered out.

"Perhaps we are getting off on the wrong foot," the tall figure sighed, "so please answer me this, who do you think I am?"

"What?" Lucy squeaked out, shaking with fear.

The tall figure, starting to sound angry and impatient, growled out, "'WHAT' is no answer I ever heard of, you can say something else besides 'what' right?"

"Whwhwhwhaaaat?" Lucy stuttered.

"SOMETHING ELSE, ANYTHING ELSE, CAN YOU SPEAK IT!?" The tall figure shouted out in an exasperated fashion.

"Yes." Lucy murmured, on the verge of fainting.

"Well that is good," the tall figure stated, "Sorry for that outburst, but really, considering that you've ran all over these woods, screamed at me, and threw a very large, and might I add, HARD rock at my head, I think I am justified to be a little peeved."

"What?" Lucy asked, regretting that she said that word again.

The tall figure face-palmed, and then brought its head to Lucy with an effort at patience and calmness. "Listen Miss, are you or are you not Lucy Heartfilia of the Magnolia Guild Fairy Tail? And for goodness sakes, please answer yes or no."

Lucy just started at the creature in shock and awe.

"Miss," the creature said in an even voice, "I am prepared to wait for my answer until Hell freezes over, but can you please answer my question, I have an important appointment to keep."

Lucy screamed out at the tall creature, "ALL RIGHT, YOU WIN YOU CREEP, YES! YEEEEEESSSSS! I AM LUCY HEARTFILIA, JUST PLEASE DON'T KILL ME, OR EAT ME, OR WORSE, STALK ME ANYMORE!"

At this, the tall creature seemed taken aback, and, as it shook its head, straightened its back, angled its head at Lucy, reached its hands behind its back, and…

reached into its back pocket in order to fish out a little green bag full of jewels. The creature then respectably bowed towards Lucy and said, "Miss, I believe this is yours."

"WHAT?!" Lucy practically screamed out.

The tall creature sighed once more, before wearily saying "Miss, perhaps you will understand the situation more clearly if I explain everything, now please, do not interrupt, and NO I MEAN YOU NO HARM WHATSOEVER! UNDERSTAND?"

At this, Lucy quickly bobbed her head up and down like a bobble head, whimpering slightly in the process.

"Good," the tall creature said, "Let's start from the beginning, my name, Miss Heartfilia, is Slender Man, and I have come to Magnolia on the invitation of one of my pen pals, a Mr. er…," Slender Man reached into another back pocket and brought out a letter, and, due to the dim light, moved the letter close to his pale face in order to read the name of the sender, "Elf Man…."

"ELFMAN," Lucy blurted out, "You mean Elfman Strauss?"

"YES, now please, kindly let me finish my story," Slender Man groused. "Now, as I was saying," Slender Man continued, "I came here to visit Elfman and I went astray along the way, I accidentally took the scenic route to Magnolia through the woods, and as a result got completely lost. Now, after hours of wandering around, I noticed on the track, a little green bag full of jewels. Upon inspection of this bag, I noticed the words, "Lucy's Rent Money, do NOT steal, YES THAT MEANS YOU NATSU, GRAY, ERZA, AND HAPPY!" Also, upon further inspection of the bag, I noticed your full name, and the guild hall to which you belong. With coincidence, you are a member of the same guild as Elfman, so I sought to kill two birds with one stone and return your purse to you and find a way to Magnolia and Fairy Tail." At this Slender Man handed Lucy back her purse, which Lucy took back gratefully. Right before Lucy could thank him; Slender Man quickly raised his voice and said, "Now, that is my story, any questions?"

"Err, yeah, quite a few actually," Lucy said, "Number 1: WHY DID YOU NOT JUST TELL ME ALL OF THIS WHEN I SAW YOU, DO YOU KNOW HOW SCARED I WAS?"

Slender Man sighed and said, "Yes, I know how scared you were, every time you saw me, you looked as though the Saw series got another sequel. And I tried to tell you who I was and what my purpose was, but before I could, you always screamed and ran, and might I add that you run EXTREMELY FAST, do you know how hard it is to chase after someone in the dark woods, especially when one is extremely tall, and exhausted, and suffering from a concussion from a hard ROCK being thrown at one's head?"

Lucy, twiddling her thumbs and shuffling her feet a little, said, "Um, sorry about that sir, but I was really scared, I mean, it seemed like you had the ability to teleport and pop out of no-where, like at the bathrooms, the rusted barrels, and the tunnel…"

"Wait a second," Slender Man interrupted, "Tunnel? Why, I never even knew there was a tunnel here."

"Wait, YOU DIDN'T" Lucy screamed out in confusion.

"Yes," Slender Man stated, "Are you certain that you saw ME at this tunnel, for I know that I only saw you three times tonight, once at the rusted barrels, here right now, and once at the bathrooms…"

Lucy exclaimed in shock, "Wait, ONCE at the bathrooms, but I saw you multiple times at the bathrooms."

"Then it appears that I am not alone in these woods tonight," Slender Man said with caution, "we should get back to Magnolia immediately, please tell me that you know the way."

"Well, now that you mention it…" Lucy began, "I am just as lost as you are right now."

Slender Man groaned, and then he looked towards Lucy, saying, "Well, it looks as though we will have to make either an effort to escape these woods, or head back to the bathroom complex, fortify the place, seal the doors, and try to last out until daytime, which would you prefer?"

"Well," Lucy began, "considering we both have no idea where we are at and we are both exhausted, I say that we should head back to the bathroom complex and defend ourselves, please tell me that you know magic."

Slender Man chuckled lightly, "Miss, the only "Magic" I know is the popular fantasy role-playing trading card game called "Magic," and I doubt that the several rare trading cards that I own will be sufficient to protect us."

Lucy smiled, "Well, it is good for the both of us that I CAN use magic, and I have… wait, uh, hold on a second." Lucy frantically shuffled through her pockets, coming up empty each time. Frantically and nervously, Lucy said, "Err… say, pardon me…"

Slender Man said gently, "Please Miss, call me Slender."

"Err, fine," Lucy agreed, "So long as you stop calling me "Miss" and start calling me Lucy."

"Very well Lucy," Slender Man responded, "Please continue."

"Well Slender," Lucy began," "When you found my purse, did you happen to also find and pick up a set of magical Gatekeys that have the ability to summon celestial spirits and/or a whip?"

Slender Man face-palmed again, and then he said, "No Lucy, so sorry, I looked back on the track, but I only found that little green bag, so please tell me you can still fight without those."

"Well," Lucy stated nervously, "I can always use my Lucy Kick."

Slender Man, shrugging, said, "Well, I suppose that is better than nothing, now, we must get back to the bathroom complex before whatever was chasing after you, besides me, finds out where we…"

The sounds of static and distortion interrupted Slender Man sentence, then, a monotonous deadpan male voice was heard clearly by both Lucy and Slender Man:

"Lars Ulrich was a drummer in Los Angeles, California, who, in late 1981, placed an advertisement in a Los Angeles newspaper called _The Recycler_. The ad read, "Drummer looking for other metal musicians to jam with." Guitarists James Hetfield and Dave Mustaine, and bassist Ron McGovney responded to the ad, forming the original line up for the band. After Mustaine was kicked out of the band and McGovney quit, guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Cliff Burton joined as replacements, forming the "classic" lineup of this Heavy Metal Giant and Thrash Metal Founder, colloquially known as Metallica. The following 2008 heavy metal power ballad, comparable to their similar earlier thrash metal successes of "One," "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" and "Fade to Black," reached number one on the Billboard Hot Rock's Tracks, as K-Billy's Terrific Tunes of the Two-Thousands' Weekend just keeps on... truckin' with Metallica's The Day That Never Comes."

Slender Man, stepping protectively in front of Lucy, said, "I believe that whatever was chasing after you has found us, we should prepare for whatever it may throw at us."

Lucy, shivering a little, agreed, and straining her eyes, noticed a figure in a dress suit and an EXTREMELY large red bump on its head. The figure seemed slightly disoriented, and was scanning the horizon, looking for someone. The figure was also holding the camcorder that Lucy threw at it, and the godforsaken radio had somehow remained functional, and had once again turned itself on. Lucy, recognizing the DJ's voice, knew that it had tuned to the same station, and she could even hear the song blaring out from the radio's speakers from the location she was currently in, the radio's slow guitar solo had just transcended to the male singer's opening lines:

"Born to push you around."

"Better just stay down."

"You pull away,"

"He hits the flesh,"

"You hit the ground."

"Mouth so full of lies."

"Tend to black your eyes."

"Just keep them closed,"

"Keep praying,"

"Just keep waiting."

"Waiting for the one,"

"The day that never comes,"

"When you stand up and feel the warmth."

"But the sun shine never comes,"

"No, the sun shine never comes."

"Pushed you cross that line."

"Just stay down this time."

"Hide in yourself,"

"Crawl in yourself,"

"You'll have your time."

"God I'll make them pay."

"Take it back one day."

"I'll end this day."

"I'll splatter color on this grey."

"Waiting for the one,"

"The day that never comes."

"When you stand up and feel the warmth."

"But the sun shine never comes."

The figure holding the camcorder and radio suddenly noticed Lucy and Slender Man, and, with its posture suggesting happiness, bounded over to them both. Coincidentally, at this moment, the song intensified, in both aggressiveness and speed. The rapid fire guitar solos were starting, and the singer started to sound hoarser and also started to scream out his lyrics.

"Hey Slender, I will throw my purse at its head, it will probably duck to avoid it. Regardless, with its attention preoccupied, you will step in and punch him in the face, and if it is still standing, I will Luck Kick it in the gonads." Lucy whispered.

"Agreed," Slender Man responded, "Don't throw the purse until you see the whites of its… well, you can't really see its eyes so, don't throw the purse until you see the… uh, well, never mind, just throw your purse at it."

At this, Lucy threw her purse with all the force she could muster at the approaching figure. The figure ducked, just as the song blaring from the radio increased in intensity:

"Love is a four letter word,"

"And never spoken here."

"Love is a four letter word."

"Here in this prison."

"I suffer this no longer,"

"I'll put an end to this, this I swear, this, I swear"

"The sun will shine"

"This I swear,"

"This I swear,"

"This I swear!"

At this point, the song's most exciting guitar and bass solos occurred, which were punctuated by Slender Man charging in and attempting to punch the strange figure in the face. The figure ducked and was about to slug a good one into Slender Man's head, but before he could, Lucy charged in and Lucy Kicked the figure in his fun parts.

The figure's cry of pain was drowned out by the ending drum solo and the singer's final scream, but regardless, the figure crumpled to the ground, dropping the camcorder and radio as it fell. The camcorder and radio hit the ground with a crunch, and the radio went silent.

Lucy, panting heavily said to Slender, "Hey, we did it; we took care of this… wait, WHY IS MY FAVORITE PAIR OF WHITE PANTIES ON THAT THING'S HEAD?"

Slender Man, bending down for a closer look, sounded shocked when he responded, "Why, those are a pair of white panties on its head, and here I thought it was like my face, well, let's just see who is behind this mask." At this, Slender Man removed the panties… and uncovered the face of Natsu Dragneel, who was not only unconscious, but had strained and pained expression on his face.

"WAIT, NATSU WAS THE OTHER GUY FOLLOWING ME!?" Lucy screamed out.

Grabbing Natsu by his shirt's collar, Lucy cried out, "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE, NATSU!?" As Lucy shook Natsu's body, she yelled, "WAKE UP YOU JERK, YOU'VE GOT SOME EXPLAINING TO DO!"

"Maybe we should just wait for him to wake up," Slender Man suggested, "Then you can ask him why he was chasing after you."

"Fine," Lucy pouted, "Well, at least we know what is going here know, and hey, when the jerk wakes up, I am sure that he will be able to lead us back to Magnolia."

"Grand," Slender Man replied, "I will be able to keep my appointment after all."

"Ungh," Natsu groaned, "What the hell Lucy, what was that for?"

"What was that for?" Lucy said with mock sweetness, "WHAT WAS THAT FOR?! Why, that was for scaring me multiple times, stalking me around this place, wearing a scary costume, and popping up in weird places like the bathroom, the tunnel…"

"Wait a second Luce," Natsu began.

"DON'T INTERRUPT ME!" Lucy screamed, "As I was saying…"

"Uh, Lucy," Natsu began again, "I never saw you in the tunnel, true I went to the tunnel when I tried to find you, but I never saw you there."

"Wait, YOU WERE NOT THE GUY AT THE TUNNEL!" Lucy screamed out.

"No, sorry," Natsu replied sheepishly, I only saw you inside the bathroom, twice might I add, once when you threw the camcorder and radio at my head, and a second time when I regained consciousness and you suddenly ran into the bathroom again, now why did you run away screaming after I regained consciousness anyway?"

"Hold it Natsu," Lucy said fearfully, "How about you tell your whole story about what you are doing here first, oh, and before you begin… WHY THE HELL WERE YOU WEARING MY FAVORITE PAIR OF WHIT PANTIES ON YOUR HEAD!?"

"Well Luce," Natsu said, "Gray and Gajeel told me that in order to look impressive for a date, a true man must wear the lady's panties on his head."

"WHAT?! THAT IS THE MOST IDIOTIC ADVICE EVER!" Both Lucy and Slender Man yelled.

"Those inglorious bastards," Natsu growled in anger, "Just wait 'till I get back at them."

"Wait just a second Natsu," Lucy began, "Just finish your story first."

"Sure thing Luce," Natsu stated, "Now, Happy and Pantherlily dropped you off in the forest for you to find the note to write down who you loved. Now, the guild was betting heavily on it, and I was the most likely candidate according to the polls ran by Cana. Because of this Mira offered me 1000 jewels if I went into the woods for the "Inevitable and Romantic First Date." Now, I am wearing this suit because Master said that no self-respecting man goes on a date without a dark black dress suit and tie, and then, after that, Gray and Gajeel told me to wear your panties on my head so that I would look presentable."  
"And you believed those two morons." Lucy chuckled.

"Well, now that you mention it," Natsu began, "Juvia was trying to talk me out of wearing your panties over my head, she said something like "Juvia's Despised Love Rival will not want to date a jerk wearing panties on his head, so PLEASE Natsu, do not listen to Gajeel's advice." At this, I said that Gray said that wearing panties on my head was a good idea, then Juvia said, "Natsu, for once my precious Gray-Sama is wrong, so please, do NOT wear those panties on your head, for if you do, Lucy will think you a jerk, and thus not date you, and thus, steal Gray-Sama away from Juvia."

"And you STILL did not listen to Juvia?" Lucy inquired, "I mean, true, her argument was slightly flawed, but the end result was technically correct."

"Err, you see Lucy," Natsu began, "As Juvia was attempting to have me remove your panties from my head, Gray and Gajeel were actively conversing in the background, and eventually, something changed hands between them. And then Gray sauntered up to Juvia, kissed her on the cheek, and said; "Now now Juvia, you shouldn't be lying to Natsu." At this, Juvia turned redder than a John Woo movie shoot-out finale, and she started to stammer out something. Before I could make out what Juvia was saying, Gray said to her, "Now Juvia, you wouldn't want to sabotage Natsu's appearance now would you." Then Gray whispered something in Juvia's ear, and Juvia… well… she did something along the lines of pass out and dissolve into a puddle. And after that I went to the woods, wandered around for a while, and as night approached, I went to this weird bathroom complex and slept there."

"Wait, so Natsu, you are trying to tell me that you were in these woods since the night of December 20th?" Lucy questioned.

"Yeah," Natsu said, "And I woke up to some loud heavy metal music playing in the bathroom, before I could go to you and say hello, you threw the camcorder and radio at my head, and when I regained consciousness later, you still screamed and ran away. And when I catch up to you, you throw your purse at my head and Lucy Kick me PAINFULLY in the balls as greetings. I mean come on Luce, besides breaking into to your apartment now and then, eating up half your fridge, borrowing some of your rent money without paying you back, and occasionally pulling some sort of awkward misunderstanding, what did I ever do to you to deserve this treatment... namely getting my balls relocated to my armpits?"

Lucy shook her head, thinking to herself that Natsu took the words right out of her mouth, and also shivering at the analogy of what Natsu just described.

"Pardon me," Slender Man stated, "But there are two pressing issues at hand, one… We have not been introduced young man, I am Slender Man, and you are?"

"Uh, Natsu Dragneel," Natsu responded back, "What was the second pressing issue?"

"Well, as for two, who was the mysterious figure who you saw at the tunnel Lucy?" Slender Man replied.

"Definitely not you two," Lucy said, "But hopefully whatever it was is…" Lucy paused for a second, her body tensing up, and fear etched into each and every line in her face, which was then broken by a shrill scream as Lucy cried out, "OH MY GOD, SLENDER BEHIND YOU!"

"Huh," Slender Man said as he turned, "Oh him, Lucy I almost forgot to tell you, another one of Elfman and my penpals was to come to Magnolia today, and here he is now. Lucy Heartfilia, I would like to introduce you to my good friend Enderman."

Enderman, now that Lucy took a good look at him, looked somewhat familiar. He was looked somewhat similar to Slender Man, and Enderman was a tall skinny figure that seemed rather box-like and rectangular, with extremely skinny and long arms and legs. Enderman's square–shaped head stared back at Lucy with large rectangular pink and white eyes. Strangely, Enderman had no hands, yet was somehow able to pick up and hold up a block of… dirt. Stranger still, Enderman was wearing a black suit and tie, and there seemed to be weird purple mists emanating from his body. Enderman angled his face down at Lucy to take a closer look at her.

"Hello." Lucy ventured in a small voice to the creature.

"…" Enderman responded.

"Uh?" Lucy wondered aloud.

Enderman then made some chirp-like clicking noises and nodded its head up and down.

"What?" Lucy stated in confusion.

"Pardon him," Slender Man said, "He cannot speak your language, indeed, he can barely speak at all, but luckily he can write and read, so you can communicate with him later, and have no fear, for I can understand him, and luckily for us, he can understand us perfectly. Oh, and he says he apologizes for scaring you at the fork in the road and at the bathroom complex. Hey, wait a second, you scoundrel you, why are you not apologizing for scaring Lucy at the tunnel!?"

At this, Enderman bobbed his head up and down, shook his head from side to side, and made a loud and irritated clicking noise.

"Wait," Slender Man said, "You mean you only saw her at the fork in the road and at the bathroom complex? And what do you mean you don't know that there was a tunnel here?"

"What?" Lucy squeaked out.

"Uh, it seems that there must be others in these woods tonight," Slender Man said, "Wait a second, Enderman, did you happen to pick up Lucy's uh… what were your weapons again Lucy?"

Lucy quickly stammered out "A set of magical Gatekeys and/or a whip."

"Right," Slender Man said, "Those things, Enderman, please tell me you found them and picked them up."

Enderman slowly shook his head in a manner that indicated that the response was 'no.'

"Well that's a fine kettle of fish," Slender Man complained, "Well, we had better get back to the bathroom complex and fortify it before whatever was chasing Lucy…"

Before Slender Man could finish, the broken radio suddenly crackled to life, and amid static and distortion, broadcasted one final garbled message:

"K-Billy's Excellent Entertainment of the Eighties' Weekend just keeps on coming with this little thrash metal ditty, from the album "Master of Puppets." Metallica's "The Thing That Should Not Be." At this, the radio signal distorted into inaudible static and white noise.

"What the hell is up with this thing," Lucy muttered, "And thing that should not be? What could that mean?"

"Why is that radio's broadcast so important Luce?" Natsu questioned.

"Because, when I had it, the songs it played where so ironic, prophetic, and…"

"And what Lucy?" Slender Man questioned, oblivious to the static-like pop noises that were emanating from behind him. "And why are you freezing up faster than a Windows Vista computer? Hello? Are you there Lucy? What's wrong, you look like you've seen… and what's with this trembling… and why are you pointing behind me…"

With a shock of realization, and the feeling of almost wetting his pants whilst simultaneously taking a crap his pants, Slender Man fearfully stammered out, "Oh dear…."

With this, Slender Man quickly turned around and found himself face to… well… chest really, with an extremely tall man. Said figure was wearing a black dress suit with a corresponding black tie and was also rather… slender. The figure was also lacking a face with the only object on its head being what resembled a blank, white, and featureless mask, we can safely assume that Lucy, Enderman, Natsu, and Slender Man were in the presence of…

Dark malevolent laughter interrupted this train of thought and filled the woods as Lucy trembled with fear. All sanity that Lucy had once had seemed to be rapidly slipping out of her. To make matters worse, Lucy began to fell light-headed and her nose started to spout and rain out blood faster than a Slayer Guitar Solo. The figure that was responsible for the dark malevolent laughter started back at Lucy, Enderman, Natsu, and Slender Man. The looks of horror, recognition and realization from Lucy, Enderman, Natsu, and Slender Man gave the tall slender figure immense satisfaction and joy. Then, to further the moment whilst simultaneously bringing about a satisfying conclusion, The Slenderman reached into his back pocket with both of his hands… and some of his multiple long and flexible tentacles. When he brought them back to view, Lucy's magical Gatekeys was in one hand, and Lucy's whip was in the other hand. On one of The Slenderman's Tentacles was one solitary piece of paper. Lucy strained her eyes to read the paper, and beheld a picture of The Slenderman with the word "NO" written near both of his sides multiple times.

The picture was really a remarkable likeness, Lucy thought before madness started to overcome her. Glancing up at The Slenderman's pale white face, Lucy fancied that she could almost see him smiling down at her, a dark and evil smile, really, more like a smirk. And the smirk would then part as The Slenderman would laugh again, with a demeanor and attitude that seemed to say… "GAME OVER!"

Punctuating this was the mysterious radio, it had suddenly cackled back to life, and the song blared out of the radio's speakers. Lucy could vaguely hear the song's coincidental lyrics:

Not dead which eternal lie,

Stranger eons death may die.

Drain you of your sanity,

Face the thing that should not be.

Fearless wretch.

Insanity.

He watches.

Lurking (Static)

Great old one.

Forbidden sight.

He searches,

Hunter of shadows is rising, immortal, in madness you dwell.

At that moment, the radio finally shut down with a screeching blast of feedback and distortion.

Right as Lucy felt as though consciousness would leave her, The Slenderman walked slowly towards Lucy, making loud and booming steps as he went. Slender Man, Enderman, and Natsu seemed petrified, or indeed hypnotized by The Slenderman's presence, for they made no move to stop The Slenderman, or indeed, move at all. Lucy felt The Slenderman leaning his face down close to hers, and such fear was so overpowering, that Lucy failed to hear the background noises, the weird scampering, and the actions going on behind and around her. Time seemed to come to a complete stop in that moment, and Lucy felt that Harlan Ellison was right, she, figuratively at least, had no mouth, yet she must scream.

The footage stops there. The camcorder that Natsu dropped was not completely broken. The footage was poor at best, but the audio worked fine, well, at least until static and interference took over when The Slenderman advanced towards Lucy. I was able to piece together the account from the camcorder; however, the ending of this chapter is not the end of the account, I repeat, THERE IS STILL FOOTAGE LEFT TO DECIPHER, for I just am having issues with deciphering it. The trip to the woods netted virtually nothing, merely eight weird pages. I am sure that it is nothing to worry about. The final chapter will be up soon, as the ending of the camcorder should be the end of the account and thus, the end of the story. Thanks for all of you fateful readers who have stuck with this story. Your continued support and readership is appreciated. I would also like to take a moment to give another hearty and grateful thank you for all of the fine readers who have perused this account.

Also, Shout-Outs and personal thanks to Azuky The Knight, luvelguk, SymmetricalGirl8DeathTheKid, SasusakuIslovelyyhave, and ThEAnOnYmOuScOlLeCtIvE, your reviews and support for this work are appreciated, and I do hope that you will enjoy this chapter and the conclusion of the story. **Until next time, from Comrade Carlin.**


End file.
